I recently moderated an advisor panel at the Travel Agent Forum in Las Vegas. In my closing remarks, I mentioned to the audience that before they started advertising, they needed to be able to answer this simple question: why should a prospect buy from me?

I suggested they look around because each person in the room was their competition—and those who could answer the question would win.

Agents vs. Agents

After the session concluded, two of the four panelists made a point of telling me they didn’t consider the people in the room their competition. Well, I asked, who was? They both made it clear they were competing with Costco, Vacations to Go and other agencies—but not with those travel advisors in the room.

When I was asked who I thought were my competitors, I rattled off a few well-known names. We each have our own specialties, are often up for the same speaking engagements and target the same clients for our educational programs. We are all friendly and in fact, we often work on projects together. But make no mistake: We are competitors.

Defining Your Competition

Similarly, to say another agent is not your competitor is like saying Royal Caribbean does not compete with Carnival, or Globus with Gogo Vacations or Costco Travel with Vacations to Go.

They all offer virtually the same products at similar prices to many of the same prospects, some of whom may currently be your clients. So I think all sellers of travel in the world, large or small, are in competition with one another.

Here’s why. Statistically, client retention is less than 30 percent. That doesn’t mean the customer stops taking vacations; for whatever reason, roughly 70 percent will book with a different seller of travel or book direct for their next trip.

Explaining What Sets You Apart

Travel agents are just one of multiple sales channels your suppliers utilize to sell their products. If you want to be the consumer’s choice, you must be able to effectively communicate why a prospect should buy from you.

If you want to learn how to build a successful, sales-focused business, visit WealthyTravelAgent.com.